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Férus
|Row 9 title = |Row 9 info = |Row 10 title = |Row 10 info = }}A weakened, dying blacksmith, his family slain in a raid by a foreign army, once made a request of the last weapon he would ever forge -- a simple longsword, unornamented, like any of hundreds he'd made in his life. Bearing it aloft, he bade it find its way to a battlefield and take vengeance for the deaths of his loved ones ten-thousandfold. He then plunged it through his own heart, so that he might end his own suffering and see his family again. This was the first drop of untold rivers of lifeblood that Férus, King of Swords, would come to taste. Years passed, and the unembellished weapon was retrieved by a young soldier riding through the ruined hinterlands of that forgotten kingdom, on his way to go to war with the encroaching Dominion of the Rose Throne. Though the sword briefly tasted blood again as he joined the battle, the youth died before the war was over, and the blade was taken up by another -- and another, and then another, the blacksmith's wish and masterful craft allowing it to persist through the centuries, passing through the hands of kings and commoners alike as it quenched its thirst. When at last the mundane sword took its twenty-thousandth life -- ten thousand each for its maker's wife and son -- it had become so whetted on the stone of battle that its soul aspired to the ideal form of a sword, a blade so _perfect_ that even the gods took notice of its ascension. Inspired by its zeal, fervor, and undying loyalty, one of the pantheon (some stories attest this role to patron god of the human race, Zarus) uplifted the weapon and awakened its spirit, giving it at long last a resting place and reward for its mighty deed. When the Dominion's crusade of conquest reached its successful end, the folk tale of Férus had become so ingrained amongst the peasantry that it was adopted as a proper god of the Roseblessed pantheon, embodying perseverance, the perfection of self, and the rules of war. Unlike the others of the pantheon, he has no associated animal. Dogma, Clergy, & Temples Férus has little in the way of formal teachings, serving more as a symbol of the concepts of war than a true deity, though its story is often used as a dogmatic fable in the Dominion. In lieu of a life-governing philosophy or belief system, the Férusian faith is instead used as a rallying point and medium of discussion for the formalized military organizations of the Dominion, providing a common basis for rules of engagement and a neutral meeting ground. However, formal war and standing armies have become a thing of the past in the wake of the Breaking, and what might have once passed for Férusian scriptures -- manuals of combat styles and forms, manifestos of tactics by former wielders of the blade itself, treatises on the rules of war -- have become less and less emphasized in the popular culture of the Dominion. Férus has fallen significantly out of popularity within the Shards, relegated to a lesser station as a patron deity of the Dominion's duelists, the guard of the Rose Throne itself, and the more militaristically-minded among officers of the Planeswatch. Like all Roseblessed deities, Férus retains a grand cathedral in the center of the Dominion, though it exists in a state of disrepair that the charitable might describe as "austere." It currently serves as the meeting hall for the remainder of the Brotherhood of Thorns, one of the Dominion's few surviving knightly orders. Avatars Férus makes use of avatars often, sending its spirit to inhabit common, mundane weapons at the sites of significant battles in order to relive its bygone past and continue its campaign of retribution against killers of the innocent. While so embodied in an unenchanted, non-masterwork weapon, Férus will grant unparalleled mastery and martial ability to its wielder, endowing him or her with the courage to accomplish astounding feats of war and the inspiration to singlehandedly turn the tides of unwinnable battles. If it still exists, the original blade likely resides somewhere in the Outer Planes after its ascension. Some pieces of lore place it on the eternal battlefield of Pandemonium, in the hands of the bloodthirsty Erythnul, while others declare it to be the personal blade of Zarus himself. Category:Planeswatch Category:Deities Category:Non-Player Characters Category:Roseblessed